TIRED of falling behind in the AFL's unofficial arms race, St Kilda has revealed bold plans to officially align its new player academy with European soccer clubs and also become the first club to harvest overseas talent on a major scale.

The Saints' head of football, Chris Pelchen, says the focus has shifted from "topping up" playing lists with recycled older players and believes it's time for the Saints, often chastised for not investing enough in player development, to provide more resources in a football and personal sense.

Chris Pelchen. Photo: Supplied

These resources would extend to teenage talent discovered on foreign shores.

Advertisement

"We are conscious of the fact that the scholarship system probably hasn't been exercised to the level it could be," Pelchen told The Age yesterday.

"Under the international scholarship scheme, clubs can have up to 24 international scholarship holders at one time. No club, including ourselves, has really embraced that system. To this point in time, we have clubs that have five or six on their list, but that's still a long way from 24.

"What we intend to do over the next two to three years is have a much stronger emphasis on establishing the academy internationally. As part of that, we need a very strong base here to bring those players in, and the academy will play an integral role in that."

The academy program began last week and has been endorsed by players including skipper Nick Riewoldt, Brendon Goddard and Nick Dal Santo. Senior players will spend two-thirds of their week in the traditional AFL training program under coach Scott Watters, and the rest of their time in the academy focusing on football, welfare and personal development. Those in the VFL will spend more time in the academy.

The program is expected to help the Saints retain and attract players, an important aid with free agency beginning next season.

''Players will float between the two. On a Monday, players will be allocated to whatever program they are nominated for that week. If you are up for AFL selection that following weekend, you are in the AFL program," Pelchen said.

"If you are playing the VFL, then you are in the academy program. Key players returning from injury will at different times be a part of the academy. What we are really focusing on is a holistic approach to a player's development. We are trying to marry the two together to ensure a player, whether he has been at St Kilda for 12 months or for 15 years, comes out a very rounded person."

The academy will eventually have its own separate training facility at the club's Seaford base that

will become a "testing laboratory" for the next generation of talent.

Such is the importance of the academy that its director - the Saints are still interviewing for the role - will sit alongside the senior coach. This is a major change of philosophy for an AFL club.

The academy will be bankrolled in part by leading club-associated businessmen, dubbed the True Believers, who will also play a key role in mentoring and educating players.

Pelchen, who has outlined his overall plan in a column in The Age today, said the Saints had looked closely at academy models adopted by English soccer club West Ham and Spanish giant Barcelona.

The Saints have not established formal links with an overseas club but that is part of the long-term aim. This could lead to players spending time at overseas academies. "In the early stages, it will be to borrow ideas and examples from overseas models,'' Pelchen said. ''That's what it will be from an operational and structural sense. But, certainly, the potential for our players to go over and actually spend time at these academies is something that is very much part of our thinking.

"While off-field, sports have tended to concentrate on fitness or a sports science base where we can share ideas, and even tactically where you look at defensive presses and things like that in basketball and soccer - and we have certainly started to branch out into that influence on our game - we believe the next stage of development is really to look at overseas clubs, particularly [soccer], but all sports, at how they develop their own players from a very early age."

Collingwood has spoken about becoming the Manchester United of Australian football in terms of supporter and commercial support, football spending and on-field success. It now seems the Saints may get the jump in terms of player development.

"Traditionally, AFL clubs have bracketed development as part of the traditional AFL program, where the senior coach oversees all coaching and development activity," Pelchen said.

"We probably have broken away from that traditional model by establishing two specific training programs - one being the AFL program, the other being the academy program. The academy director will sit alongside the senior coach, rather than under the senior coach.''

20 comments so far

I don't get it.....

Why does a marginal game only played in a backwater like Australia need to look overseas?

If you turned all of the grounds Back not parks instead of gladiator colosseum type enclosures any if us would be happy.

Join the real AFL today at

Antifiitballleague.org

Commenter

Sven

Location

Toorak

Date and time

March 07, 2012, 8:08AM

The Saints may as well look overseas for players - their Seaford training base is that far from the Melbourne CBD it's like travelling to another country.

Commenter

johnjinsf

Date and time

March 07, 2012, 9:03AM

Thank you Sven for your valuable contribution. The game of Fiitball has a lot to worry about.

Commenter

Damien

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

March 07, 2012, 9:18AM

If there are talented youngsters overseas that miss out on contract deals with their native sports, AFL recruiters will look at whether they have the skills and attributes to make it in our game. I don't get your point on turning stadiums back to parks? The reason there are stadiums in the first place is there was no room in the parks for all the spectators to watch the football.

Commenter

Mick

Location

Melb

Date and time

March 07, 2012, 9:26AM

When will this newspaper acknowledge that it is not soccer, it is football.

Commenter

Robinho

Date and time

March 07, 2012, 9:46AM

You need to move on and stop bitching about that, boring, and I'm from the UK!

Commenter

Eagle eye

Date and time

March 07, 2012, 10:26AM

You score a goal in Australian rules exclusively by striking the ball with your foot. That sounds like a game that should be called football to me. The other football you speak of seems to have balls bouncing in the net off people heads so maybe soccer should be called headball just to avoid confusion with the real football. Or maybe Riotball, flareball or primadonnaball are options which can be explored for soccer.

Commenter

Mick

Location

Melb

Date and time

March 07, 2012, 10:50AM

It is called soccer (or English Association Football to be precise) in order to distinguish it from other codes of football of course!!! "Football" refers to a game played on foot, as opposed to on horseback. In most countries where there is a monocode they refer to it as football, but it is soccer here, in NZ, in the USA, in Canada, in South Africa, etc. They played the final of the last Soccer World Cup at ... (wait for it!!!) ... that's right, at Soccercity Stadium, even though the SOCCERoos didn't make it!!!

Commenter

Ross

Location

Sydney

Date and time

March 07, 2012, 11:56AM

Primadonnaball is a great idea I like that...

Commenter

Geoff

Date and time

March 07, 2012, 12:25PM

"soccer" world cup. Sorry but that is Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup.Also known is the World Championships of FOOTball. What annoys me the most is that the age run term 'afl foody,footy clubs' down our throats but somehow English FOOTball is referred to English soccer and European FOOTball Clubs are refered to European sokker clubs. Pathetic! Even more so when they call gridiron - American Football but different rule for football EEH!